Mar Del Plata, Argentina, 8 August 2008 – The Debian Project is inviting membersof the public and the press to its annual conference, DebConf 8, which takes place from 10 August to 16 August at the Hotel Dorá in Mar Del Plata, Argentina.

Mar Del Plata, Argentina, 8 August 2008 – The Debian Project, the teambehind the free Debian GNU/Linux operating system, is inviting membersof the public and the press to its annual conference, DebConf 8, whichtakes place from 10 August to 16 August at the Hotel Dorá in Mar DelPlata, Argentina.

Over 100 events have been scheduled with speakers from all parts ofthe world, such as Debian Project leader Steve McIntyre and HewlettPackard's Open Source & Linux Chief Technologist, Bdale Garbee. Thetopics include global team organisation, internationalisation,development internals and policy, virtualisation, and systems &network adminisatration. In tutorial sessions, attendants can gainhands-on experience in various subjects. Development and brainstormingtakes place in the two “hack labs”, and peripheral events, such as aworld cheese party, allow for extensive networking.

Celebrations will be in order on Saturday, 16 August, when the DebianProject turns 15 years of age. Founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be atruly Free, community project, the project has grown to one of thelargest and most influential open source projects.

Jörg Jaspert, one of the conference organisers, is excited: “Of allthe Debian conferences I have experienced, this is the best prepared.Thank you to the local team for all their work!” The local organiserteam  40 volunteers from all over the country  have dedicated almostan entire year of their time to make this event happen.

Attending the conference is free of charge, although visitors arerequired to register on-site. More information is available from theconference website: http://debconf8.debconf.org .

The language of presentation is English, although many Spanishspeakers are available to help and answer questions.

On Wednesday, 13 August, no events will take place as conferenceattendees take a day off to experience local sites and culture.

Following DebConf 8, Debian Day will take place on 18 August in BuenosAires. Debian Day is a free-of-charge, one-day software users'conference. The event provides a friendly, personal atmosphere forindividuals who are interested in free and open-source software tomeet the people behind the project and obtain free advice.

About Debian————

The Debian Project is an association of Free Software developers whovolunteer their time and effort in order to produce the completelyfree operating system Debian GNU/Linux.

About DebConf————-

DebConf is the Debian Project's developer conference. In addition to afull schedule of technical, social and policy talks, DebConf providesan opportunity for developers, contributors and other interestedpeople to meet in person and work together more closely. It has takenplace annually since 2000 in locations as varied as Canada, Finlandand Mexico.